GOP governors: Deep budget cuts are coming

Yahoo ^ | 11/18/10 | Liz Sidoti

[jerry557]

SAN DIEGO – Incoming Republican governors from Pennsylvania to New Mexico are vowing to keep campaign promises to slice already cut-to-the-bone budgets and balance them without raising taxes.

In doing so, GOP leaders intent on conservative governance signaled a desire to try to fundamentally change state government, shrinking it significantly. And they acknowledged that could mean more job losses and service cuts to already recession-hammered states anticipating more budget trouble ahead.

"While we're all facing these challenges, there are incredible opportunities for us to go look at what the core missions of government were, and redefine the role," said South Carolina Gov.-elect Nikki Haley, adding that the institution was never intended to be all things to all people. "We're going to have to scale back."

"We have to be honest with the people of our states and say, 'This is going to hurt. We're going to struggle,'" Haley added. But she said she was confident that the GOP's remaking-government approach ultimately would make Republicans — and their states — stronger.

At the annual Republican Governors' Association conference this week in California, incoming and current GOP governors insisted that their methods — which Democratic critics deride as draconian — would prevent another bout of catastrophic fiscal conditions over the long term.

--snip

Most if not all Republican governors are looking at how to block parts of Obama's health care law.

"It's going to bankrupt us," said Rick Scott, Florida's next chief executive, who once ran a sprawling health care company. Besides targeting the health care law, he also has vowed to simultaneously return spending to 2004 levels and eliminate corporate income taxes. Florida faces an estimated $2.5 billion deficit.

[crazyhorse691]

cut-to-the-bone budgets

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That is just so hilarious...yahoo news never fails to produce smiles with their over the top hyperbola disguised as fact.

[ari-freedom]

Mitch knows how to privatize govt services. That’s much more complicated than simply cutting and dumping.

For example, he contracted out some services to IBM. Unfortunately they screwed up. Mitch gave the jobs back to the govt employees since they could actually do a better job. The worse thing you can do in privatization is to institutionalize the private contractor so that they act as if they were a protected govt bureaucracy.

[upchuck]

"We have to be honest with the people of our states and say, 'This is going to hurt. We're going to struggle,'" Haley added. But she said she was confident that the GOP's remaking-government approach ultimately would make Republicans — and their states — stronger.

Nikki Haley Ping Next South Carolina Governor Send FReepmail to join or leave this list.

[upchuck]

Hmmm... did Christie attend this? Nothing about him in the article. Strange.

[AdaGray]

It’s about time.